No and yes? I lost the weight you see on the ticker on the "divorce diet" about 3 years ago - extreme stress upsets my stomach and made it hard to eat and then I chose to handle my stress with running and exercise rather than food or alcohol because it made me feel better (maybe a seed of IE?) - voila' BIG weight loss in a short period of time. I had read the Overcoming Overeating book 2 years before that and liked the concepts but just wasn't ready mentally to do it. I originally joined 3FC before that trying to lose weight the restriction diet way - and was unsuccessful for more than a few pounds up or down.

Then, my new boyfriend (now DH), and I watched the Forks over Knives documentary and really liked the idea. We followed the plan for awhile and something interesting happened - I learned that I like "real" food and that my body felt better when I ate it. I found that I chose those foods over processed foods because I genuinely wanted them. But wait - it's not "ride off into the sunset time yet, lol" - then the holidays came and bring on the meat/cheese/sugar binge and 15lbs of regain.

That following January, it all finally clicked for me. I remembered the Overcoming Overeating book I had read before and thought about how it made me feel eating whole foods (good but a little deprived) and how it felt to eat the holiday foods (icky after more than just a little bit). Cue the music and light shining from above - If I could eat mindfully choosing foods based on what made me happy, I could achieve some balance and could enjoy ALL foods again.

So, the short answer is that no, I didn't lose the weight on IE, but it is what has helped me maintain my weight for 3 years and then lose that 15lbs I gained over the holidays.

Interestingly, when I was the closest to mindful eating, was the time that I maintained/lost weight and when I had the most restriction and subsequent binge, I gained weight. And I truly believe that mindful eating is what will help me continue to lose. I feel that there is more weight to lose because there is still room for improvement for me in eating mindfully. I am still working on self care and body image and self esteem. For me, I think my progress on that will have a direct impact on weight loss.

I believe that weight loss (at least the 100lb kind) isn't linear. It's a series of trial and error. And more of a mental health journey than a nutritional/exercise one. (But I am a HUGE believer that part of mindful eating is a food discovery journey that should include a wide variety of natural foods. I think our bodies were designed to run properly on real, actual food and that processed, sugary foods should be enjoyed to the extent that we really want them.)